American Graffiti-Our Boar and Castle

American Graffiti

One of my all-time favorite movies is American Graffiti.
This is not going to be the subject of this month’s rant.
I made it the title mostly to get your attention.
I wanted to draw you to the fact that kids today have
nowhere to hang out unless you count the tattoo parlor
or maybe one of the wing joints in town. It does not
matter to me if the kids choose to hang together.
It does concern me that kids are sporting tattoos
that won’t wash off. However, that is another rant.

No love for the automobile may be a reason that kids
do not migrate towards hangouts like we did in my
teenage years. Now, I know that times are different.
I know that what my father liked and what his father
liked are two different things. I just do not have
a way to share my feelings about the way life used
to be and make the kids of today appreciate it.
My wife says I am starting to sound like my old man.
As much as I love him, I do not want to become him
in my old age. But where is the fun in staying home
on facebook, or playing some computer game against
someone in China, or playing Guitar Hero alone?
I just don’t get it.

Our American Graffiti hangout was a drive-thru in
Greensboro, North Carolina called the Boar and Castle.
You could not eat inside, but bar hops brought your
food to the car. The food was cheap, delicious,
and featured a sauce concocted by the owners called
‘Castle Sauce.”

Even though the Castle closed down in the eighties,
people still talk about it as if it were still located
on Market Street. I met my first wife there, but
that again is another story. I do not have enough
paper to tell that story, even if the lawyers would
give me permission. My main purpose is to make you
understand the camaraderie of the teenagers of my day.
Everyone cleaned up their cars, got dressed in
their finest casual clothes, and drove to the Castle.
The object was to be seen, to meet girls or boys,
and to date. There was a lit up side where everyone
ate and hung out. If you were lucky enough to meet
someone, you took her to the other side, which was
dark and romantic. This sounds mischievous or
somewhat evil, but really it was just good clean fun,
with some kissing or necking as we used to call it.

You knew all the car hops by name and they knew you
and your date’s name if you were going steady.
This is another old term that people do not use anymore,
but for us it was a sign that the person you
dated belonged with you and only you. Seems to me
that today everyone dates in groups, or at least
meets their date out somewhere. When I asked someone
about this they said, “It’s safer to meet this way.”
Safer from what? Is everyone afraid that their date
may be a killer? Have we become so callous as to
worry about who we are dating?

I am sure no one wants to go back to the good old days.
But, if the days when cokes were a nickel, gas was
thirty cents a gallon ,and a cute girl would meet you
over on the dark side of the Castle and smooch for a
while, or at least until her curfew could be resurrected
at least one person around here would be happier.

I guess I couldn’t construct enough word on this page to
bring back the idea of young people getting together for
fun instead of sharing tattoos. Of course I am from
another generation and maybe I need to get a tattoo
that says, “I Love Mom,” then maybe this would turn
out to be more fun than I thought. The wife says just
try it and she is out the door. Could someone please
send me the address of a good tattoo parlor?



Seth Bradley

Questions or comments? Feel free to email me at: seth.bradley43@gmail.com

Ben L. Smith Class of 1966

We were the class of '66. We came from Jackson, Central,
and Gillespie to open the doors of Greensboro's brand
new high school, Ben L. Smith. The day we had anticipated
for so long had arrived; we were finally going to high
school! At last , we had made it. We were big time now.

Things were different in 1966. Most of us didn't have a
car,but the lucky ones that did,would pack us in and haul
us to school so we didn't have to ride the dreadful bus.

I can still remember, particularly our sophomore year,
standing on the corner, freezing to death, waiting for
that yellow chariot. You didn't wear a coat(except maybe
a London Fog) because you didn't want to cover your new
monogrammed sweater. Of course, you didn't wear a hat or
boots because they just weren't cool and being cool was
a real priority.

If standing in the cold had not awakened you in time for
homeroom, then the bus ride to school would do the job.
The mingling aromas of Jade East, Canoe, and English
Leather (that must have been purchased by the 55 gallon
drum) along with the Intimate and Windsong the girls
bathed in, would certainly get your attention.

The maturity level of a high school student was never
more evident than it was in a crowded school bus.
Spit balls flying, screaming from one end of the bus
to the other, and tripping people as they came down the
aisle, were all conducive to preparing us for the serious
business of education.

Yes, things were different in 1966. We had major social
obligations and commitments. Friday nights- would it be
the football game or the dance at the Glenwood Community
Center? And Saturday night, date night; first, you hoped
and prayed that you had a date, then you had to decide
between a drive-in movie(and hope your parents didn't find
out) or a trip to the Boar and Castle.
If you chose the Boar and Castle,would
you park on the light side or the dark side(under the
grape vines) and hope your parents didn't find out.

Then we would cruise. Now, wasn't that wonderful! We would
start at the Castle, sometimes take a left and circle through
Ernie's parking lot (where the guys would try to buy beer)
before heading downtown. We would drive all the way through
town, exit on Summit Avenue, cruise Hot Shoppes and maybe
Monroe's before heading back to the Castle and starting all
over again.

Our parents could not understand how we added 75 miles to
the odometer in one night. Now, to finance these cross-
country treks, we would each chip in a quarter,and put in
a $1.00 worth of gas in the driver's car. Of course, this
was when you could buy gas for $.29 a gallon.

We can't talk about the way we were in high school without
remembering the way we dressed...girls with their round
collared blouses and wrap around skirts, shirt waist dresses
and Cappezio shoes.

Guys wore button down collars(madras or oxford cloth,of course.)
Oh yes, their socks had to match their shirt. Navy slacks, yellow
button-down shirts and yellow socks, gray slacks, pink button
down shirts and pink socks, and Weejuns or Nettletons to
finish the look.

And remember those dress codes at school; no shirttails out
for the boys and you didn't dare go to certain classes without
socks( I want mention any names).Girls could not wear pants,
and blue jeans were out of the question. However, I don't
think we would have been caught dead in them even if they had
been allowed. They just weren't cool in 1966.

We all looked alike, down to the princess rings on our fingers
and the circle pins on our collars. We were so afraid to be
different.

Ladies really had some lovely hair styles in those days. Those
teased up bubbles, bouffants and long straight look just barely
flipped on the ends. And what about that beehive?

One thing we really had going for us in the 60's was our music.
We did have some great music. It was February 9th,1964 when we
saw the Beatles' first appearance on the "Ed Sullivan Show",
and we liked them,(they were different)but the music we really
loved and grew up with came from Detroit and the music machine
known as Motown. We danced and romanced to the Supremes, the
Shirelles, the Four Tops, the Temptations and the Drifters.

We couldn't wait for Beach Week-end to roll around so we could
head out for Myrtle Beach and shag all week-end to the sounds
we loved. It's amazing how you can listen to some of those old
songs today and remember exactly what you were doing when you
first heard them. We didn't have CD players or sophisticated
stereo equipment, but we could turn up our radios and hi-fi's
full blast and really get into it.

Yes, we really had some good times, but we had our serious
times too. We worried about S.A.T.'s and getting into the
college of our choice. Things were happening that we didn't
understand: the Civil Rights Movement, with the integration
of the schools our sophomore year, the Vietnam War, with the
guys worrying about getting drafted after graduation. Then
there was the tragic announcement over the P.A. system in 1963
that our President, John F. Kennedy, had been assassinated.

For many of us this was our first brush with tragedy, a part
of growing up that we didn't want to face. We had no idea
that this was just the beginning, but we did face it and
continued.

Yes, things have changed since our graduation that night in
the Greensboro Coliseum. We all went our separate ways; some
of us went to college, some went out into the work force,
some of us married(some more than others), some didn't.
We all pursued different careers and different lifestyles.

We look in the mirror and see gray hair and wrinkles around
the eyes and realize, yes, we have changed, but there is one
thing that will never change. There was a time in our lives,
a brief period, when we all shared a common bond. We shared
our fears, our hopes and aspirations as we face adulthood.
Those memories will never change, those memories that bring
us together, those memories of our days at Ben L. Smith.

Written by Carol Regan Mata for the Class of '66 Reunion